Whatever it takes: the Greg Smith political crucifixion

STATE Labor turned to the manual for trashing political
opponents - Whatever It Takes, the memoirs of former federal
head-kicker Graham Richardson - to attack the career of the man who
last week won Liberal preselection for the safe seat of Epping.

Another Labor stalwart, scriptwriter Bob Ellis, was summoned to
Premier Morris Iemma's office to craft some cutting-edge questions
to be used against the candidate in Parliament.

The organised attacks began within hours of Greg Smith, SC,
winning pre-selection for the state election on March 24. Until
then, Mr Smith, 58, had been a highly regarded law man who had
risen to become the state's deputy public prosecutor and was in
charge of the NSW Department of Public Prosecutions when its
director, Nicholas Cowdery, QC, was on leave.

Police Minister Carl Scully referred Mr Smith to the Independent
Commission Against Corruption over allegations of corrupt conduct,
and he has been taunted in Parliament by cabinet ministers and
Labor MPs as a protector of an alleged child pornographer and a
pedophile.

The allegations against Mr Smith are doubly vile because he is a
devout Catholic, a devoted husband of 35 years, the proud father of
five grown children and president of the St Thomas More Society,
the fraternity of Catholic judges, barristers and solicitors.

Mr Smith's victory in Epping was accompanied by The
Sun-Herald's exclusive revelation that the unsuccessful
candidate, Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Pru Goward,
would be thrown a lifeline in the seat of Goulburn.

The win-win for Coalition leader Peter Debnam coincided with a
poll showing the Coalition had drawn ahead of Labor by an
election-winning margin of 54 per cent to 46 per cent. Labor was
spooked.

The tightly knit team in charge of organising Labor's
re-election decided to retaliate. After a strategy session in the
Premier's office, Transport Minister John Watkins, the minister who
carries more credibility than most of the cabinet, was sent on the
air waves first thing Monday morning. Drawing on a confidential DPP
memo of the events surrounding the arrest of senior Crown
prosecutor Patrick Power, SC, on child pornography charges in July,
Mr Watkins claimed Mr Smith was implicated in dubious
activities.

"Here we have the DPP Greg Smith giving a child-porn suspect a
head start over detectives," he alleged.

When Parliament resumed on Tuesday, a barrage of "Dorothy
Dixers" from Labor backbenchers allowed senior ministers - Mr
Watkins, Attorney-General Bob Debus and Mr Scully - to further
trash Mr Smith's character and professionalism. Amid uproarious
scenes, Mr Scully told MPs: "His job [Mr Smith's] is to bring the
evidence before the court to prosecute people, not to tip off
people to enable them to dispose of the evidence needed for the
prosecution."

Heffron MP Kristina Keneally, whose husband Ben Keneally is a
key lieutenant in Mr Iemma's office, went further, saying: "Mums
and dads in this state should know that the Liberal candidate for
Epping gave a person of significant interest in a child sex crime a
head start on the police. Is that the type of person we want in the
Parliament? The Liberal Party should disendorse its Epping
candidate if it has any respect for the children of this
state."

The next day, Mr Scully focused on the phone calls Mr Smith
received last month from Mr Debnam and Senator Bill Heffernan after
pedophile charges were dropped against Hunter man Henry Alfred
Anning, 72, and then reinstated.

Mr Scully asked the chamber: "Was there any discussion [between
Mr Debnam and Mr Smith] about preselection votes being wrapped up
in return for prosecuting this particular individual? That is what
we need to know."

By Thursday, Mr Scully was telling MPs that he was so concerned
about the phone conversations that he ordered an ICAC investigation
and that if Mr Debnam and Mr Smith had discussed anything about
Liberal Party politics, neither were fit to hold public office.

The other point of Labor's attack - forcing Mr Smith to leave
the DPP now that he was a political candidate - was a furphy. Mr
Smith knew better than anyone else that he would have to quit his
job, but his boss Mr Cowdery was overseas. He couldn't walk off the
job last Monday leaving hundreds of prosecutions and appeals in
limbo.

He always intended to reach a strict timetable for his exit in
discussions with Mr Cowdery, which will take place tomorrow.

Mr Smith is a tough crime fighter who joined the National Crime
Authority, and at the NSW DPP since 1987 has jailed some of the
state's most dangerous criminals.

He must be wondering whether by entering state politics he has
stepped out of the frying pan.